An opera house for the "Paris of South America" -- "It was love at first sight": biography and social trajectory of standing-room dwellers -- Foreground -- Becoming an opera fan: cultural membership, mediation, and differentiation -- Moral listening: symbolic boundaries, work on the self, and passionate engagement -- Heroes, pilgrims, addicts, and nostalgics: repertories of engagement in the quest for transcendence -- Finale -- "They were playing in their shirtsleeves!" downfall, memory work, and high-culture nationalism -- "We've told you all about our life": conclusions and implications.